PATEK PHILIPPE. A RARE 18K WHITE GOLD LIMITED EDITION AUTOMATIC WORLD TIME WRISTWATCH WITH MOON PHASES, MADE TO COMMEMORATE THE 175TH ANNIVERSARY OF PATEK PHILIPPE IN 2014

For Patek Philippe's 175th anniversary in 2014, the firm has reinterpreted this legendary model, giving it a hauntingly poetic moon phase display. To help it venture into these new technical and aesthetic dimensions, the manufacture has developed a new version of ultra-thin self-winding movement: the caliber 240 HU LU. The engineers have dispensed with the usual aperture and its disk adorned with two moons; instead, a single, large, richly atmospheric moon turns clockwise, at the center of the dial, against a star-studded nocturnal sky. The effect is achieved with two very thin disks of mineral glass. The lower disk, depicting the moon, completes a rotation in a lunar month. The fixed upper disk is a heart-shaped mask; its outline reveals the changing visible portion of the moon night after night with astonishing accuracy. A complex new metallization technique has produced a moon whose face stands out against its starry background with almost photographic realism.

Offered by an important private collector, the present reference 5575 was made in a limited series of 1,300 pieces in white gold and is highly sought-after by collectors worldwide.